Interference and Diffraction of light

Dr. Md. Anisur Rahaman

Assistant Professor in Physics
Jallpaiguri Govt. Engg. College

April 9, 2021

1 Redistribution of energy in Young’s Double Slit experiment (YDS

Expt.) and concept of coherence:
|x| = 5

L1

S1
O’
S O

S2

➢ S1S2=d
➢ d<<D
L2

Figure 1: A schematic diagram of the Young’s double slit experimental setup.

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2 Intensity of light at a point P:
The electric field at a point P due to secondary source S1 can be expressed as:

2π
 
E1 = E01 cos S1 P − ωt (1)
λ
Similarly, the electric field at a point P due to secondary source S2 can be expressed as:

2π
 
E2 = E02 cos S2 P − ωt (2)
λ
So applying superposition principle, the electric field at at P due both secondary
sources S1 and S2 is:

2π 2π
   
E = E1 + E2 = E01 cos S1 P − ωt + E02 cos S2 P − ωt (3)
λ λ
Hence the intensity I at P is:

2
2π 2π
   
2
I = kE = k E01 cos S1 P − ωt + E02 cos S2 P − ωt (4)
λ λ
or

2π 2π 2π 2π
       
2
I= kE01 cos2 2
S1 P −ωt +kE02 cos2 S2 P −ωt +2kE01 E02 cos S1 P −ωt cos S2 P −ωt
λ λ λ λ
(5)
Now,

2π 1 2
 
2
< kE01 cos2 S1 P − ωt >= kE01 = I1 (6)
λ 2
similarly,

2π 1 2
 
2
< kE02 cos2 S1 P − ωt >= kE02 = I2 (7)
λ 2
Hence,

2π 2π
    
I = I1 + I2 + 2kE01 E02 cos S1 P − ωt cos S2 P − ωt (8)
λ λ
or

2π 2π
    
I = I1 +I2 +kE01 E02 cos (S1 P −S2 P ) + kE01 E02 cos (S1 P +S2 P )−2ωt (9)
λ λ

2
 Now

2π
  
kE01 E02 cos (S1 P + S2 P ) − 2ωt =0 (10)
λ
Let,
2π
(S1 P − S2 P ) = δ (11)
λ
Hence the Intensity I at point P can be expressed as:

I = I1 + I2 + kE01 E02 cos(δ) (12)

r r
1 2 1 2
I = I1 + I2 + 2 kE kE cos(δ) (13)
2 01 2 02
or

p
I = I1 + I2 + 2 I1 I2 cos(δ) (14)
Hence,

I2 )2
p p
I = ( I1 + (15)
and

I2 )2
p p
I = ( I1 − (16)

2.1 Results.

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 Distance from the center of the screen

Distance from the center of the screen

Distance from the center of the screen

Figure 2: Intensity of light on the screen. [top] for I1 = I2 = 100. [middle] I1 = 100
I2 = 1. [bottom] I1 = 100 and I2 = 0. [All quantities are arbitrary units.]

2.2 When the sources are incoherent.

I = I1 + I2 + kE01 E02 hcos(δ)i (17)
Now

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 hcos(δ)i = 0 (18)
Hence

I = I1 + I2 (19)

Distance from the center of the screen

Figure 3: Intensity of light on the screen. For I1 = I2 = 100. [All quantities are arbitrary
units.]

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3 Diffraction:

A
b
B

L’

Figure 4: Plane wave is incident on an apperture.

Difference between interference and diffraction

There is not much a difference between the phenomena of interference and diffraction.

Interfence corresponds to the situation when we consider the superposition of waves

coming out from a number of point (or line) sources.

Diffraction corresponds to the situation when we consider waves coming out from
from an area source like a circular or rectangular aperture or even more than one aper-
tures.

Classification of diffraction phenomena

The diffraction phenomena are usually divided into two categories:

a) Fresnel diffraction

and

b) Fraunhofer diffraction

6
 L

Point
source

L’

Figure 5: Fresnel diffraction

f f S’
L

Figure 6: Fraunhofer diffraction

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3.1 Fraunhofer diffraction: Single slit diffraction pattern

Screen

Lens

Incident plane
wave

Diffraction
pattern

Long narrow slit

B1
P
A1 B2
A2 𝜃A’ B3
2
b A3

f
L

Figure 7

Let the slit width is b and distance between two consecutive point be ∆. If the
number of point source is n then we can write:

b = (n − 1)∆ (20)
Then path difference betwwen two consecutive plane wave (For 1st and 2nd one) is:

A2 A02 = ∆sinθ (21)

and corresponding phase difference is:

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 2π 2π
φ= × A2 A02 = ∆sinθ (22)
λ λ
Then the resultant field at point P would be given by:

E = a[cosωt + cos(ωt − φ) + cos(ωt − 2φ) + ...... + cos(ωt − (n − 1)φ)] (23)

Now,

sin nφ
2 1
cosωt + cos(ωt − φ) + cos(ωt − 2φ) + ...... + cos(ωt − (n − 1)φ) = cos[ωt − (n − 1)φ]
sin φ2 2
(24)
Thus
1
E = Eθ cos[ωt − (n − 1)φ] (25)
2
where

sin nφ
2
Eθ = a (26)
sin φ2
Now, as n → ∞, ∆ → 0 and n∆ → b
So

nφ π π
= n∆sinθ → bsinθ (27)
2 λ λ
and

2π 2π bsinθ
φ= ∆sinθ = (28)
λ λ n
So

asin nφ
2 sin πbsinθ
λ
Eθ = φ
= na πbsinθ
(29)
2 λ
or

sinβ
Eθ = A (30)
β
πbsinθ
where A = na and β = λ

hence

sinβ
E=A cos(ωt − β) (31)
β

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 The corresponding intensity distribution is given by:

sin2 β
I = I0 (32)
β2
where I0 is the intensity at θ = 0

Position of maxima and minima

The variation of amplitude and intensity is shown in Fig. 8

β β=π β=2π β=3π β=4π

Figure 8: Variation of amplitude and intensity as a finction of β

From the Fig 8 it is obvious that the minimum intensity occurs at β = mπ, where
m = 1, 2, 3, 4, ....

sinβ
When β = 0, β = 1 and I = I0 which corresponds to the maximum of intensity.

So for minima we can write:

πbsinθ
β= λ = mπ

or bsinθ = mλ; m = 1, 2, 3, 4, ....

So the 1st minima occurs at θ = ±sin−1 λb ,

the 2nd minima occurs at θ = ±sin−1 2λ

b ,

the 3rd minima occurs at θ = ±sin−1 3λ

b .

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 since the maximum value of sinθ is unity, hence

mmax λ
≤1 (33)
b
or

b
mmax ≤ (34)
λ
Condition of minima (qualitative arguments)

For m = 1, divide the slit into two equal halve

θ
A
B
b/2
b A’
B’

Figure 9: m = 1

Similarly for m = 2 divide the slit into four equal part, for m = 3 divide the slit into
six equal part and so on.

Position of maxima:

sin2 β
I = I0 (35)
β2
‘or

dI sinβcosβ 2sin2 β
 
= I0 − (36)
dβ β2 β3

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 or

sinβ[β − tanβ] = 0 (37)

We have already shown that sinβ = 0, i.e. β = mπ(m 6= 0) corresponds to minima.
Hence the condition for maxima is obtained by sloving transcendential equation:

β − tanβ = 0 (38)
or

β = tanβ (39)
The solution β = 0 corresponds to central maxima. The solution can be found
graphically as follows:

β=0 β=2.46π
β=1.43π β=3.47π

Figure 10

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 Relative strength of maxima:

2
sin(1.43π)

I1 = I0 = 0.0496I0 (40)
1.43π
2
sin(2.46π)

I2 = I0 = 0.0168I0 (41)
2.46π
2
sin(3.47π)

I3 = I0 = 0.0083I0 (42)
3.47π
Hence the intensity of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd maximas are 4.96%, 1.68% and 0.83% of
central maxima respectively.

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